White Sox continuing push for starting pitching

LAS VEGAS — The lockout is looming less than a month away.

White Sox general manager Chris Getz hasn’t sensed any significant difference in approach compared to past Novembers when it comes to offseason moves.

“It hasn’t for me, it really hasn’t,” Getz said during the GM meetings on Tuesday at the ARIA Las Vegas Resort. “It doesn’t mean it won’t pick up. Usually right around this time, it still is fairly quiet in terms of actual deals getting done. I do anticipate it picking up. To really predict how much, it’s unclear.”

Time will tell how much movement occurs for the Sox before December.

“When it comes to trades, it’s obviously the willingness of another club,” Getz said. “And then on the free agent front, there’s got to be a willingness to want to really start that particular player’s market. So more than anything, you just want to be prepared to be able to execute when the time is right.”

As the GM meetings wrap up, here are three takeaways from Las Vegas.

1. Starting pitching remains the top priority.

The Sox are shifting Grant Taylor from the bullpen into the rotation, joining the likes of Sean Burke, Davis Martin and Noah Schultz. They plan to continue to bolster their starting pitching.

What type of makeup are the Sox targeting?

“Someone that we feel like is going to be able to provide some upside,” Getz said. “To really state which part of the rotation that particular pitcher is going to fall in, I don’t know, and we may not know until the season begins because we’ve got so many young arms that are still developing, and we do anticipate guys getting better.

“But yeah, we’re certainly targeting individuals that we feel like can pitch in a middle to the top of the rotation.”

Getz said there is “plenty of talent in the free-agent class on the pitching front.” He also recognizes that the demand across the league is high, as usually is the case.

“It’s always high, it really is,” Getz said. “And you either go the free-agent route or you go the trade route and that’s what we’ll continue to monitor.”

The Sox are also monitoring catching depth and right-handed hitting outfield options.

2. Offensive traits, defensive versatility stand out for Graham Pauley.

Early offseason activity for the Sox included claiming infielder Graham Pauley off waivers from the Miami Marlins last week.

The 26-year-old has a .209/.272/.364 slash line with 18 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 41 RBIs, 29 walks and 37 runs over 137 career games during three major-league seasons with the San Diego Padres (2024) and Marlins (2025-26).

“Pauley, we’ve got a history of following him going back to his amateur days,” Getz said. “He’s got some offensive traits that we like, some defensive versatility.”

Last week, the Sox signed pitcher Alec Marsh to a minor-league deal with a spring training invitation. The right-hander went 12-18 with a 4.96 ERA in 43 appearances (33 starts) over two seasons (2023-24) with the Kansas City Royals. He has been working his way back from a right shoulder impingement and reportedly from labrum surgery.

“Marsh, he’s had success at the major-league level,” Getz said. “He’s had some injuries. Based on his last surgery and kind of where he is in the recovery, we feel like there is some opportunity for him to be able to help our major-league club at some point next year.

“Obviously a minor-league deal, and needs to continue to feel good and improve. But he’s had success, so we felt like a good target for us because he’s done it.”

3. The work is ongoing to continue the momentum built in 2026.

Will Venable’s thoughts started drifting to 2027 “pretty quickly.”

“There’s a stretch there where kind of both things (reflecting on 2026, looking ahead to ’27) are happening simultaneously,” said Venable, the 2026 American League Manager of the Year, during a videoconference call on Tuesday. “Really taking a look at some of the things specifically later in that (AL Division) series (against Cleveland). Could we have done things differently? Could we have done things better? How would we have handled things differently?

“Kind of decompressed from the playoffs, while also acknowledging and working toward the idea that we have to prepare for a really important offseason, which involves communicating with players, making sure that we’re dialed in on our player plans, and how we want to communicate those things, knowing it was going to be limited communication throughout the offseason potentially (because of the lockout). There’s a little bit of time afterwards, kind of bouncing those two things. And then maybe more of an opportunity more recently to kind of take a step back and look more globally at our season, some of the things that we can use and kind of leverage and want to be aware of to take into our messaging and our game plan for 2027.”

The team is working through the process of filling an opening on the coaching staff, as assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan is reportedly taking over as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

“We’re doing interviews right now, and I would imagine that’ll come to a close here shortly,” Getz said. “Joel’s going to the Cardinals, really happy for him. Now it’s our job to find someone to step up and help us.”